Science Service once
distributed samples of
asbestos-laden towels
through its “Things of
Science” program.

The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) last week proposed banning five
widely used asbestos products, then
phasing out over 10 years all mining, importation and remaining uses
for the mineral. A known human carcinogen, asbestos is capable of causing lung cancer and mesothelioma (a
cancer of the chest and abdominal lining). In announcing the proposal, EPA
Administrator Lee M. Thomas said that
enacting the law could ultimately prevent about 1,900 U.S. asbestos-related
cancer deaths.

EPA only began investigating the
hazards posed by some of the now-to-be-banned products after French
researchers in 1982 pointed out that
asbestos-impregnated floor tiles
could, through normal wear, release
“important” concentrations of the
mineral into the air (SN: 7/10/82,
p. 22). In addition to vinyl-asbestos
floor tile, the new proposal would
immediately ban asbestos-contain-ing roofing felts, flooring felts and
felt-backed sheet flooring, cement
pipe and fittings, and clothing. These
products account for an estimated
40 percent of the U.S. asbestos market.

The remaining products would have
to be labeled as containing asbestos.
EPA is also considering several alternatives for such products. One would
ban all construction and clothing uses
now, all friction (brake) products
within five years and everything else
within 10 years.

UPDATE

At issue is how quickly substitutes
can be found for those products — such
as asbestos brake linings — not immediately banned. — J. Raloff

Asbestos troubles not gone yet

Environmental Protection Agencyformally announced the ban or phase-out of most asbestos products, thoughmuch of the plan was declared legallyvoid by the Fifth Circuit Court ofAppeals two years later.

A science-history buff could easily
fill a year’s worth of From the
Archive updates with stories of super
materials and wonder drugs whose
reputations went rotten following
further scientific scrutiny. Asbestos
deserves special note because of how
long its effects will linger.

By the middle of the last century,
this “magic mineral” had made its way
into cars, boats, buildings and even
ironing boards and dish towels (SN:

9/25/48, p. 204). Though scientists
had known since the 1920s that asbestos dust is dangerous to factory workers, it wasn’t until the ’60s that the
link to cancer was clearly established.

Today, asbestos is still found in fire
doors, roofing materials and vinyl
floor tile. And it remains in the lungs
of many who inhaled it, taking up to
half a century to deliver its damage.
A 2009 report found that deaths from
malignant mesothelioma, of which
asbestos exposure is the primary
cause, are not yet falling in the United
States. Globally, the problem may be
more serious: A recent study reports
that asbestos-related deaths are
likely to surge in Asia in the coming
decades. — Elizabeth Quill

The U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration instituted
federal guidelines limiting workplace
asbestos exposure in 1971. In 1989, the

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